Harriet Tubman (Painting #6 of 13) “Influential Women”

Harriet Tubman
1820 -1913

“There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death;
if I could not have one, I would have the other.”

Defined by her deeds, Harriet Tubman distinguished herself as a arch abolitionist, leading hundreds of slaves out of the South to freedom in the northern United States and Canada. Life threating missions into the pre-civil war South and during that fierce struggle, she guided countless indigent serfs to a safe haven in the North. Harriet risk her own freedom and well being, to save others.

Despite the affects of a life long serious head wound suffered at an early age, inflicted while protecting a fellow slave, Harriet labored her entire life in the service of God, to right the social wrongs of her people. Endlessly plagued with her own poor physical condition, undeterred, Harriet traveled untold miles, mostly on foot, to deliver family, friends, and strangers to a just existence out of the bonds of slavery. She affected her own freedom and that of others by nocturnal journeys, guided by the North Star, through woodland and swamps, utilizing the informal connections of the “underground railroad” and its network of safe houses and supporters, to free her brethren.

Harriet Tubman, in her 93 years: championed her people, served as a Union scout and spy, led a armed assault during the Combahee River raid, founded a home for elderly blacks and worked for the rights of women voters. Much lauded for her selfless service for others, Harriet died as she was born, bereft of worldly goods and money but with a grand legacy as her final earthly reward.